DSV 1878 Hannover
 |
|
| Union | German Rugby Federation |
|---|---|
| Founded |
1878 (DSV) 1908 (SV 08) |
| Location | Hannover, Germany |
| Chairman |
 Matthias Freitag (SV 08) |
| Coach(es) |
Sven Gabbei
|
| League(s) | 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga |
| 2008-09 | 1st 
|
1878 (DSV)
Günter Küster (DSV)
The DSV 78/08 Ricklingen was a German rugby union team from the Ricklingen suburb of Hannover, playing in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga North/East in 2008-09. The team was an on-the-field union of DSV 78 Hannover and SV 1908 Ricklingen, two successful clubs in themselves. The two clubs continued to exist as separate entities.
In March 2009, the SV Ricklingen announced it would leave the union with the DSV 78 and not field a senior men's team in the future, instead concentrating on its youth program. This left the DSV 78 to field its own side in the Rugby-Bundesliga 2009-10.
The club was formed on 14 September 1878 as Deutschen Fußball-Verein Hannover gegründet 1878. Under the leadership of Ferdinand-Wilhelm Fricke, then only 15 years old, 24 young men formed the first football or rugby club in the country, a distinction was not made in Germany back then. The move was inspired by watching, and occasionally joining the players of the English Hannover Football-Club.
The first proper game of rugby however was not played until 1883, when "England" played "Germany" in Hannover on 17 October.
In 1899, Fricke discovered an ideal spot for the club to play at, Am Schnellen Graben, still the home of DFV today. A year later, the Verband Hannoverscher Fußball-Vereine (Association of Hanover football clubs) was formed and DFV won its first championship.
In 1909, the club adopted field hockey as another sport. In 1913, the DFV reached its first German championship final but lost to SC 1880 Frankfurt. Shortly after, the events of the First World War bring the activities of the club almost to a halt. Of the club members to lose their live in the war, Hermann Löns, "The Poet of the Heath", is the best known.
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